|
In the second half of the XVIIIth century the main source of silver ore for the
Kolivan-Voskresensk works was the Zmejev mine. At the end of the century the most
rich deposits of this mine were exhausted. It influenced the yearly volume of metals.
It was necessary to extend the ore extraction and to explore new deposits to keep
the silver smelting on the same level. In the first half of the XIXth century the mining base
of Altai works was displaced to the south (the Zirianov and the Ridder mines)
and to the north-east (the Salair deposits). Comparative rich in silver Zirianov ore
was transported to the Barnaul, the Pavlovsk and the Loktev factories.
In 1805 the Zmejev silver smelting factory was built to smelt barren Zmeinigorsk ore,
which was not worth transporting. The re-making of barren Salair ore was held on the
Gavrilov factory from the end of the XVIIIth century, in 1816 with the same object
the Guriev silver-lead factory was built, which was re-equiped to the iron-making factory.
In spite of some periods, when the volume of production was low, in the whole in the first half
of the XIXth century the mining authorities managed to smelt silver 16000 yearly.
One of the most interesting achievements of this time is to be mentioned. That was
the projecting and the building of the first cast-iron-railway, intended for the transportation
of ore from the Zmeinogorsk mines to the Zmejev factory. The author of the project
and the chief of the Kolivan-Voskresensk works was Peter Frolov (1775-1839).
The trucks were moved on the rails of the original constraction by means of horses.
During the first half of the XIXth century the Suzun copper smelting works and the
Suzun Monetary House worked, in the Monetary House the generally used in Russia coin
was stamped with the type "K.M." (Kolivan coin) and "S.M." (Suzun coin). In 1847 the
Monetary House was burnt and was not restored any more.
At the same time the Kolivan-Voskresensk works were traditionally one of the
sources, which delivered the gold to the State Exchequer. Silver ore from the Zmejev
mine contained gold in quite little amount. That's why silver, which was producted
in Altai works, contained 2-3% of gold. This golden silver was delivered to St.-Petersberg to the Monetary House,
where from the end of the 1740-s the special laboratory existed to isolate gold from Altai silver.
In the second half of the XIXth century the open-cast mining of gold dust began in the
south of West Siberia. The deposits were discovered in 1827 by searching groops
of the private owner A.J.Popov in river valleys. The discovery was the result of the Senat Edict of
28 Mai 1812. " ". In 1830 the first gold mine appeared in Salair. To the middle
of the century the yearly extraction of Russian Gold reached 35,000-40,000kg.
On low all the extractions were to be sold to the Exchequer. In 1835 Barnaul
was determined as a place, where all gold from private mines in West and Ost Siberia was
to be collected. Here the carat and the weight of precious metals were determined.
They were melt to ingots and transported to St.-Petersburg with silver and gold.
The english traveller Kottrell, have visited Barnaul in 1840, mentioned in
his notes the city as a "gold depot".
| 
